So you think you know your county? Take our New Year quiz and put that local knowledge to the test | Words: Adam Jacot de Boinod
Scroll down below the questions for all the answers - no cheating!
1. What features on the Kent county flag?
2. In the Kent dialect a ‘doxey’ is a young lady off ill repute, but what is a ‘besom’?
3. Why is Kent called Invicta?
4. Can you name a place in Kent starting with the letter I?
5. What is the county flower of Kent?
6. Which is the largest town in the county by population?
7. In which decade was the QEII Bridge opened at the Dartford Crossing?
8. Which famous World War Two
film features The Jackdaw Inn in Denton?
9. For what were the Martello Towers originally built?
10. Which brewery is based in Faversham and is the oldest in Britain, founded in 1698?
11. Who was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 2010?
12. Which A road takes you from Royal Tunbridge Wells to Hastings?
13. In 1999 Europe’s largest shopping centre was in Kent and was called what?
14. Can you name both of Kent’s rivers that begin with the letter D?
15. What is the canal called between Strood and Gravesend?
16. When is the county day of Kent?
17. Can you name either of the two county districts starting with the letter M?
18. What new station for the Channel Tunnel opened between Dartford and Gravesend?
19. Which central Cinque Port lies between Hastings and New Romney to the west, and Dover and Sandwich to the east?
20. What is the Christian name of the current Duke of Kent?
21. What is the name of the private zoo set up by John Aspinall in 1957?
22. Which isle lies at the most easterly point of the county?
23. In the Kent dialect what would
you be eating if you had ’orts’ or ‘ertsies’?
24. Which is the county’s highest ranked football team?
25. In which borough are the villages Brook, Charing, Ebony, Molash and Sellindge?
26. Where in the county has played host to a number of national and international motor racing events?
27. Which Canterbury born star reached fame playing an elf?
28. The M20 links London with which Kent town?
29. Which visitor attraction is the Fell Bell pub home to?
30. What is the county town of Kent?
31. What are the names of Kent’s three countywide radio stations?
32.What is the name of the peninsula that separates the estuaries of the Thames and Medway?
33. What is the new name for Church Marshes Country Park?
34. What is the name of the popular cycling route between Canterbury and Whitstable?
35. Where in the county is there an arboretum?
36. What is the name of the Edwardian Estate located at Ide Hill near Sevenoaks?
37. Which house outside Sevenoaks belongs to the Sackville-West family?
38. Which castle was the seat of the Boleyn family between 1462 and 1539?
39. Can you name a place in Kent starting with the letter U?
40. Where is the Kent Music Summer School held?
41. What is the canal called between Hythe and Rye?
42. What is the name of the wetland area uniting Kent and East Sussex?
43. Where in the county is listed as a UN World Heritage Site?
44. In 1875 Matthew Webb swam across the English Channel by diving off which town’s Admiralty Pier?
45. What is the name of Kent’s largest theatre, based in Canterbury?
46. Can you name either of the two county districts starting with the letter D?
47. Born in Kent, who first introduced the printing press to England?
48. Which historic location was used in Children of Men, The World is Not Enough and The Mummy?
49. In the Kent dialect a ’face-catcher’ is a stag beetle that at dusk flies at face height but what animal is a ’brimp’?
50. Which A road takes you from Canterbury to Dover?
51. How many motorways run through Kent?
52. How many MPs represent Kent: more or less than 15?
53. Name Kent’s two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
54. By what other name is Kent often referred to?
55. What top-selling beer was made by Shepherd Neame to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War Two?
56. What are Kent’s distinctive hop-drying buildings called?
57. Can you name the county district starting with the letter A?
58. How many universities are there in the county?
59. What was the name of the 5000 flying bombs that hit London and the county in World War Two?
60. What number bus passed the house of Ian Fleming outside Canterbury?
61. Of which nut is Kent the main producer?
62. Rochester is involved with the design and construction of which form of transport?
63. In the Kent dialect what sort of child is a ‘frigger’?
64. Can you name a place in Kent starting with the letter O?
65. What profession occurred at Chislet, Tilmanstone, Betteshanger, and Snowdown?
66. What are you called if you are born east of the river Medway?
67. What are you called if you are born west of the river Medway?
68. Who is the first ever Labour MP to hold the seat of Canterbury?
69. Which headland is home to a power station?
70. Can you name either of the two county districts starting with the letter S?
71. As well as chalk, horizontal bands of which dark-coloured rock feature on the White Cliffs of Dover?
72. Do the North Downs and the High Weald constitute more or less than 30% of Kent’s land mass?
73. In the Kent dialect a ’jawsy’ is a chatterbox but what is a ’ponto’?
74. Which artillery fort was constructed by Henry VIII?
75. What annual world championships are played at Coxheath?
76. Around which Kent town are the stories of the fictional character Dr. Syn set?
77. Kits Coty are standing stones set in which Kent Borough?
78. Who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170?
79. Does Kent have more or less than 25 castles?
80. Which Canterbury pub was previously called Simple Simon’s?
81. Which A road takes you from Chestfield to Ramsgate?
82. Which Nobel Prize winner taught at Maidstone Grammar School between 1938 and 1940?
83. What two stops run between Hythe and Dungeness on the famous old railway line?
84. Which is England’s second oldest cathedral?
85. The A20 links Folkestone with which Kent town?
86. Which Kent Council has a dinosaur on its coat of arms?
87. What kind of power station exists at Dungeness?
88. In the Kent dialect ‘addle-pated’ means giddiness in the head but where, and in what condition, on the body are ’hommucks’?
89. Where is Orlando Bloom’s supposed favourite restaurant in Canterbury?
90. What did Rochester lose in 1988?
91. What is the name of the Wildlife Park near Shatterling off the A 257?
92. Which artist spent his childhood at Margate?
93. Which castle was the setting for peace talks in both 1978 and 2004?
94. What form of transport might you find at Manston (historically) and at Lydd?
95. Which A road takes you from to Hythe to Rye?
96. Bricks are made at Sittingbourne but what are made at Northfleet and Cuxton?
97. Which author’s father worked at Chatham?
98. How many of the original seven oaks of Sevenoaks survived the storm of 1987?
99. In the Kent dialect ‘yaffle’ means to eat or drink greedily or noisily but what are you doing with food to ‘hobgrob’?
100. Can you name a place in Kent starting with the letter Y?
1) A white horse on a red background
2) An unmarried woman of moral laxity or temperamental character
3) It means unconquered and the people of the county felt they had chased William the Conqueror away
4) Ickham, Ide Hill, Iden Green, Ightham, Istead Rise, Ivychurch or Iwade
5) The hop
6) Maidstone
7) The 1990s (1991)
8) The Battle of Britain
9) As defensive forts for the Napoleonic War (1805-1808)
10) Shepherd Neame
11) Ann Widdecombe
12) The A 21
13) Bluewater
14) The Darent and the Dour
15) The Thames and Medway Canal
16) May 26th
17) Maidstone and Medway
18) Ebbsfleet International
19) Hythe
20) Edward
21) Howletts Wild Animal Park
22) The Isle of Thanet
23) Scraps left from a meal
24) Gillingham FC
25) Ashford
26) The Brands Hatch circuit near Swanley
27) Orlando Bloom
28) Folkestone
29) A zoo
30) Maidstone
31) BBC Radio Kent, Heart South and Gold
32) The Hoo Peninsula
33) Milton Creek Country Park
34) Crab and Winkle Way
35) Bedgebury National Pinetum
36) Emmetts Garden
37) Knole House
38) Hever Castle
39) Ulcombe, Underriver, Upchurch, Uplees, Upnor, Upper Bush, Upper Harbledown, Upper Hardres or Upstreet
40) Benenden School
41) The Royal Military Canal
42) Romney Marsh
43) Canterbury Cathedral
44) Dover
45) The Marlowe Theatre
46) Dartford and Dover
47) William Caxton
48) Chatham Historic Dockyard
49) A gadfly
50) The A2
51) Four (The M2, M20, M25 and M26)
52) More (17 MPs)
53) The High Weald and the North Downs
54) The Garden of England
55) Spitfire
56) Oasts
57) Ashford
58) Four (University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University, University of Greenwich (a London university) and University for the Creative Arts)
59) Doodlebugs
60) Bus number 007
61) The hazlenut
62) Aircraft
63) A restless, continually fidgeting child
64) Oare, Offham, Old Hawkinge, Old Romney, Ospringe, Otford, Otham and Otterden
65) Coal Mining
66) A’ Man or Maid of Kent’
67) A ‘Kentish Man or Maid’
68) Rosie Duffield
69) Dungeness
70) Sevenoaks and Swale
71) Flint
72) Less (28%)
73) A beggar or someone who searches through dustbins
74) Deal Castle
75) The World Custard Pie Throwing Championships
76) Dymchurch
77) Tonbridge and Malling
78) Thomas Becket
79) More (26 castles)
80) The Parrot Pub
81) The A 299
82) William Golding
83) Romney and Dymchurch
84) Rochester Cathedral
85) Dover
86) Maidstone
87) Nuclear
88) They are large clumsy feet
89) Café des Amis
90) Her city status
91) Wingham Wildlife Park
92) JWM Turner
93) Leeds Castle
94) Airplanes
95) The A 259
96) Cement
97) Charles Dickens
98) One oak
99) To eat in a greedy, messy way
100) Yalding or Yorkletts